One of my favorite times of year is the beginning of the school year. I’ll admit it’s for a strange reason. It’s not for excitement, though there’s a lot with the hustle and bustle of new students entering campus. It’s not for the feeling of freshness in the air with so many new things about to begin. The reason is that a lot of the freshmen look and seem like deer in the headlights as they go through Welcome Week.
I know, that’s really sadistic of me. These poor kids are so frightened of approaching anyone that they scurry away. Seriously. Picture with me a club fair full of booths with groups eager to recruit. There’s yelling. There’s wall to wall people. There’s a lone freshman trying to figure out why he or she is even going to UCI. The dorm life is overwhelming. There’s no more parents. It’s a little scary. Now, there’s someone walking towards them…
“Hi.”
“AAAAAHHHHHH!”
Ok, so the students don’t actually scream. But, they’re a bit skittish just from our smiles and hello’s. It is an overwhelming thing to be on a new campus, a new life and wonder what to do, who to trust. I remember those days, and even for going to school in my hometown, it was still a bit frightening.
Why I think I like seeing this happen is understanding that this is so new and different. Though it’s scary, there is something more for them that we have to offer. Yes, the whole encounter has them forgetting their own names as we talk to them at the booth, but we know it’s worth our meeting them. They have no idea what can happen in their time on campus, but we do.
I came across a time that Jesus wanted to heal a man’s daughter. But, people came to Jesus and the man to stop them because the girl had died from the sickness. People were telling the man to not bother Jesus anymore. Jesus’ response was “Do not fear, but believe.”
Do not fear? How is the man being fearful when the reality is the girl just died? It occurs to me that fear comes in many forms. For this father, it was “It’s too late…too late for anything to happen. Why bother?” For freshmen, the initial fear can be any number of things!
The remedy for fear is often thought of to be courage, but that’s not what Jesus offers. Believe. Believe in Him.
So, we ask freshmen not to just trust us, but trust that Jesus has something for them in the 4 years they’re at a college. A student’s life in college is not about him or her, and doesn’t have to be dependent on themselves. We ask them to venture into some scary territory, but it’s for something seemingly miraculous: a transformed life! We ask them to trust us and trust Jesus.
Fear wants to halt a freshman like deer in the headlights. Why go join a club without knowing anyone? Why go against the tide of peers by being a Christian? But, that trust and belief in Jesus makes for something amazing!
chris
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One of my favorite times of year is the beginning of the school year. I’ll admit it’s for a strange reason. It’s not for excitement, though there’s a lot with the hustle and bustle of new students entering campus. It’s not for the feeling of freshness in the air with so many new things about to begin. The reason is that a lot of the freshmen look and seem like deer in the headlights as they go through Welcome Week.
I know, that’s really sadistic of me. These poor kids are so frightened of approaching anyone that they scurry away. Seriously. Picture with me a club fair full of booths with groups eager to recruit. There’s yelling. There’s wall to wall people. There’s a lone freshman trying to figure out why he or she is even going to UCI. The dorm life is overwhelming. There’s no more parents. It’s a little scary. Now, there’s someone walking towards them…
“Hi.”
“AAAAAHHHHHH!”
Ok, so the students don’t actually scream. But, they’re a bit skittish just from our smiles and hello’s. It is an overwhelming thing to be on a new campus, a new life and wonder what to do, who to trust. I remember those days, and even for going to school in my hometown, it was still a bit frightening.
Why I think I like seeing this happen is understanding that this is so new and different. Though it’s scary, there is something more for them that we have to offer. Yes, the whole encounter has them forgetting their own names as we talk to them at the booth, but we know it’s worth our meeting them. They have no idea what can happen in their time on campus, but we do.
I came across a time that Jesus wanted to heal a man’s daughter. But, people came to Jesus and the man to stop them because the girl had died from the sickness. People were telling the man to not bother Jesus anymore. Jesus’ response was “Do not fear, but believe.”
Do not fear? How is the man being fearful when the reality is the girl just died? It occurs to me that fear comes in many forms. For this father, it was “It’s too late…too late for anything to happen. Why bother?” For freshmen, the initial fear can be any number of things!
The remedy for fear is often thought of to be courage, but that’s not what Jesus offers. Believe. Believe in Him.
So, we ask freshmen not to just trust us, but trust that Jesus has something for them in the 4 years they’re at a college. A student’s life in college is not about him or her, and doesn’t have to be dependent on themselves. We ask them to venture into some scary territory, but it’s for something seemingly miraculous: a transformed life! We ask them to trust us and trust Jesus.
Fear wants to halt a freshman like deer in the headlights. Why go join a club without knowing anyone? Why go against the tide of peers by being a Christian? But, that trust and belief in Jesus makes for something amazing!